Software Engineer Technical Leader - Tetragon

The application window is expected to close on: 06/23/2026

Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Meet the Team

Isovalent, now part of Cisco, is the company founded by the creators of Cilium and eBPF. Cisco Isovalent builds open-source software and enterprise solutions solving networking, security, and observability needs for modern platforms. The flagship technologies, Cilium and Tetragon, are the choice of numerous, industry-leading, global organizations.

We believe in fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace where every team member feels valued, respected, and empowered. We believe that every employee contributes to our success, and we are committed to fostering an environment where everyone can thrive. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply and join us in our mission to deliver exceptional products and services.

Your Impact

Tetragon is a flexible, observability and runtime security tool that delivers real-time insights and enforcement. Leveraging the power of eBPF, Tetragon provides low-overhead, in-kernel visibility and intelligence across diverse environments.

As a Technical Leader, you will be at the forefront of advancing Tetragon's capabilities. You will guide architectural direction while staying deeply engaged in building the systems that power our platform. Your impact will include extending Tetragon's capabilities to protect a variety of platforms, building infrastructure to deliver protective shields, and creating data pipelines to monitor and analyze data streams.

You will collaborate closely with teams across Cisco, to integrate Tetragon into multiple platforms and adapt it to their needs and capabilities. In this role, you'll solve some of the most complex system-level challenges in observability and infrastructure, helping Tetragon evolve to meet the needs of multiple devices.

What you'll do:

* Design and implement Runtime Security features for Tetragon.

* Develop high-quality Go (and eBPF) code for the Tetragon project.

* Design and optimize systems for large-scale data collection, aggregation, and analysis.

* Partner across teams to align requirements, define integration points, and deliver production-ready and secure solutions.

* Contribute to open-source projects and represent Cisco Isovalent in community discussions.

* Participate in architecture reviews, code reviews, and documentation.

Minimum Qualifications

* Bachelors + 8 years of related experience, or Masters + 6 years of related experience, or PhD + 3 years of related experience

* 8+ years of experience in systems programming (C, Go, or similar; Tetragon is primarily written in Go).

* Experience leading technical direction or architecture for distributed systems, observability, runtime security, or data infrastructure.

* Experience in system-level development

* Experience in any of these areas:
Linux systems, Kernel-level development BPF or eBPF programming for observability or security use cases

Preferred Qualifications

* Strong written and verbal communication skills.

* Knowledge of eBPF for observability or security use cases.

* Experience in debugging and optimization with a track record of delivering scalable and secure systems.

* Solid background in Linux systems and kernel-level concepts.

* Familiarity with CVE workflows, vulnerability data pipelines, or security event modeling.

* Exposure real-time streaming/aggregation systems and database performance optimization.

* Experience with developing Linux applications for resource-constrained systems

* Contributions to open-source projects in networking, observability, or distributed systems.

* Experience in leading projects with multiple stakeholders

* Experience working across diverse, distributed teams

Why Cisco?

At Cisco, we're revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era - and beyond. We've been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint.

Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you'll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere.

We are Cisco, and our power starts with you.

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

The starting salary range posted for this position is $ to $ and reflects the projected salary range for new hires in this position in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation*, equity, or benefits.

Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related…